reliabilism
Description
A process focused way to form a true belief, regardless of how well it integrates into a system or if its accurate.
- Reliable means, 'tends to produce true beliefs' (eg: perception, memory, good inference)
- Is statistical or modal, not logical
- The agent does not need to know the process is reliable.
Reliabilism is the view that a belief counts as knowledge if it is true and is produced by a reliable cognitive process, such as perception, memory, or sound inference.
According to the reliabilist approach to espitemology, any adequate account will need to mention the reliability of the process responsible for the belief or truth conducive considerations more generally, particularly in order to dispel epistemic luck. It encompasses a broad range of epistemological theories to explain knowledge or justification by which an agent forms a true belief.
In many cases, an agent knows that p because she can distinguish the state of affairs where p is true from possibilities where p is false—she can “rule out” those other possibilities. (Internet encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2026)
Example
- Seeing a tree in good lighting
- Using a properly functioning thermometer.
- Normal deductive reasoning
even if the agent cannot explain the logic or if it lacks coherence with other beliefs.